A tale of two mountains

It is not the best of times , nor the worst of times. The forecast was for rain today, but the sun turned up instead. All those people who ignored the mountain in the snow yesterday turned up today as well.

So it was for the best that the Idle Skiers made an early start, which we did on the 8.45am cable car.  It was full, but at that time, the mountain wasn’t busy.  As the morning went on things changed, and being holiday time in other parts of Switzerland, the hill echoed to the sound of French speaking voices.

On Mannlichen, there was still some pockets of powder snow.  From the lifts, we watched skiers and boarders cut fresh tracks. It seemed like winter and a good one at that.

Over at Scheidegg in the afternoon, the contrast could not have been more stark.  It looked like the mountain had been mugged. The pistes were in great order, but everything else was bare and windswept, with the snow thieved away.

Still though the skiing was good. The route home – the racecourse – was fantastic again.  It is time to enjoy that run before the holiday makers return with a vengeance and the Hundschopf becomes similar to the Hanger Lane roundabout.

A day of contrasts brought 11,566 vertical metres in 25 lift rides and 61 kilometres travelled.